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Just over a month until Election Day, President Obama is returning to a theme he hoped to make a centerpiece of the midterm campaign: the economy.

Multiple crises overseas,聽the resignation of the Secret Service鈥檚 director after eye-popping threats to presidential safety, and the first case of聽Ebola in the United States have all kept Mr. Obama in a reactive mode. But in a speech Thursday at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., the president will go on the offensive and highlight the strides the economy has made since the near-economic collapse he inherited in 2009. He will also make another pitch for a hike in the minimum wage and measures intended to boost job creation.

鈥淵ou鈥檒l hear the president talk about this progress, while acknowledging that too many Americans still don鈥檛 feel enough of the benefits of our recovery in their everyday lives,鈥� says White House press secretary Josh Earnest. 聽

鈥淭o make sure these gains are felt more broadly, he鈥檒l lay out the common-sense steps our country should take to raise wages for hard-working Americans, continue to create jobs, and grow our economy.鈥�

Obama's speech comes on the same day as two indications the labor market continuing to strengthen.聽On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell by 8,000 to 287,000 last week 鈥� the lowest level seen in more than eight years. And聽the number of planned layoffs by U.S. employers fell to a 14-year low in September, according to a report released Thursday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

An Associated Press-GfK poll, released Wednesday, found that 9 in 10 likely American voters say the economy is either 鈥渆xtremely or 鈥渧ery important.鈥� Only 38 percent of likely voters call the economy 鈥済ood,鈥� and 34 percent expect it to improve in the coming year.

Democrats appear perilously close to losing control of the Senate, and efforts to improve the public鈥檚 perception of the economy could be crucial. Obama has also helped his party raise tens of millions of dollars for the midterms. On Thursday morning, before his speech at Northwestern鈥檚 Kellogg School of Management, the president will appear at a private fundraiser for Gov. Pat Quinn (D) of Illinois. Governor Quinn has struggled in the polls, but

Obama arrived in his hometown of Chicago on Wednesday evening, and with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, longtime friend Marty Nesbitt, and other Chicago friends. Mr. Nesbitt is chairman of the , which is accepting bids for the Obama presidential library and museum. The bids are due on Dec. 11.